Exclusive Comics Excerpt: ‘Amelia Rules’All week on the Comics Page, we’re excerpting a special Independence Day issue of Jimmy Gownley’s wonderful all-ages comic Amelia Rules, “The Things I Cannot Change,” a funny and touching story of duty to family, to country, and to friends.

the comics page7/5/2007

Exclusive Comics Excerpt: ‘Amelia Rules’All week on the Comics Page, we’re excerpting a special Independence Day issue of Jimmy Gownley’s wonderful all-ages comic Amelia Rules, “The Things I Cannot Change,” a funny and touching story of duty to family, to country, and to friends.

the comics page7/3/2007

Exclusive Comics Excerpt: ‘Amelia Rules’All week on the Comics Page, we’re excerpting a special Independence Day issue of Jimmy Gownley’s wonderful all-ages comic Amelia Rules, “The Things I Cannot Change,” a funny and touching story of duty to family, to country, and to friends.

Is ‘Transformers’ Better Than Sex?There’s nothing like a summer blockbuster to bring out passion in the critics. Should these flicks be judged with the same standards as, say, an Ingmar Bergman or Brad Bird film, or are they simply escapist teenage fun where plot and character are rendered irrelevant? Michael Bay’s Transformers has left many in the critical establishment reaching for earplugs and aspirin, while fan sites have declared it mind-blowing. Just as Decepticons face off against Autobots, so is the pride of the critical establishment pitted against hyperbolic online magazines.

overnights7/2/2007

‘John From Cincinnati’: The Problem With CassIn our John From Cincinnati daydreams, the show is a perfectly calibrated mix of memorable characters engaging in entertainingly streetwise banter to express their thoughts about the supernatural events complicating an epic family drama.

Disney Animation, 1938: No Girls Allowed!The Beat links to an amazing pop-culture artifact: a 1938 rejection letter from Disney to a woman looking for a job as an animator. Printed on gorgeous Snow White stationery, the letter lays out the company’s policy in brutal detail:

liner notes7/2/2007

Who Drew Those Cool Little Taste Explosions in ‘Ratatouille’?With Ratatouille hitting No. 1 on the box-office charts this past weekend — though its $47 million take notably fell short of the openings of past Pixar hits Cars and Monsters, Inc. — animator and comics artist Michael Gagné sheds light on one tiny but delightful aspect of the film.

The Multitasking BuddhaRudolf Stingel, the art critics’ darling whose highly anticipated retrospective opened this weekend at the Whitney, has a funny way of exploring artistic process. While he’s best known for his colossal minimalist constructions (Styrofoam “canvases,” transformative installations — both of which are on view at the Whitney), we kind of like the look of this multitasking Buddha: a tranquil (though perhaps maniacal) take on artistic apprenticeship.

quote machine7/2/2007

Werner Herzog Would Watch You Reading the Phone Book“If you’re purely after facts, please buy yourself the phone directory of Manhattan. It has four million times correct facts.” –Werner Herzog on how he reacts to accusations that he’s taken factual liberties in some of his documentaries